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1905 







ALCHAS 






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The Rubaiyat 

of the 

Twentieth Century 

and the 

Song of the Stars 

by 

CALCHAS 



Man's true plaGe in the Cosmos 






1905 

Published by J. Dewar & Co. 

1729 Boston Avenue 

Bridgeport, Connecticut 


















COPYRIGHT, 1905 

By J. Dewar & Co. 



CONTENTS 

I'AGK 

Prologue, 5 

i / 

The Rubaiyat of the 20th Century. - 19 

The Song of the Stars, .... 83 

Epilogue, 91 



PROLOGUE 

BO O K at this historic World- 
picture : For centuries the keen 
edged scimitar of the Moslem 
had hewed to a dead level of Faith 
in Western Asia. "Exterminate the 
Heretics," was the watchword of the 
Faithful, who pillaged and massacred 
with an untiring zeal in the name 
of the One God and of Mohammed his 
Prophet. Then add to this increment 
of Lust and Rapine those other years of 
the first Crusade, in which Christian 
Europe had hurled itself in an equally 
relentless and bloody Fanaticism at the 
throats of its Mohammedan opponents, 
sparing, in its turn, neither age nor sex 
in the wholesale slaughter of its adver- 
saries. 

5 



Prologue 

This is the historic era. The Time, 
in Christian Chronology, within the ear- 
lier half of the 12th century, when, amid 
the clashing swords of Religious Fanati- 
cism, the still, small voice of Philosophic 
Thought and Questioning Doubt dared 
utterance. The priceless gem of Logi- 
cal Thought had never a more appro- 
priate setting, and Human Reason and 
Human Kindness had never, since the 
beginning of the recorded centuries, 
a sweeter Interpreter than He, who, 
amid these turbulent surroundings, thus 
sounded a note for Humanity — this 
Omar Khayyam of Naishipur. 

The Student of the contemporary His- 
tory of the period can readily see, that, 
for any warmth of coloring in the more 
vivid pictures of material enjoyment, 
presented by the Persian Poet, there 
are, at the least, extenuating circum- 
stances, and for any intended offense 
6 



Prologue 

against the Morality and Social Ethics 
of his time, the verdict, with the evi- 
dence all in, of nine out of ten, "good 
men and true," would be "Not Guilty." 
It is a far stretch in the progress of 
the Race, from the mystic superstitions 
of the Poet's environment to the ultra 
practical standpoint to which we have 
attained. Man}' a seemingly unbridge- 
able chasm lies between. And yet, his, 
is what we deem an essentially modern 
habit of thought; his, is a very vivisec- 
tion of ideas, which spares nothing, and 
defiantly braves everything which does 
not carry upon its face the impress of 
Truth. Hemmed in on every side by the 
fierce Moslem Fanaticism of that early 
era, he yet takes nothing for granted, 
and calmly probes the life, of which he 
is a part, down to the basic foundation 
of facts which he can tie up to. And, 
at the last, with our latter day, all-em- 
7 



Prologue 

bracing scientific knowledge, how near 
we come, many of us, to the conception 
of Life, deduced from the meagre data of 
his period, by this stout-hearted old Per- 
sian Philosopher. 

In the Life of the Times he is a Spec- 
tator — an Observer. His attitude can 
hardly be called strenuous, from any 
standpoint. To us, Moderns, even his 
much-voiced regard for Wine and the 
Sex seem in the light of his calm Philos- 
ophy, as somewhat exaggerated — some- 
thing to divert the minds of his Compeers 
from the bloody fanaticism rampant in 
the early Moslem propagandism, to the, 
at least more Human ideas, of mere phys- 
ical enjoyment. The Life of the Day 
was, doubtless, just a trifle too vehe- 
ment, to the mind of the Poet-Philoso- 
pher, and hence, the generous outpour- 
ing of the oil of Human-kindness and 
skeptical questioning on the turbid sea 
8 



Prologue 

of Religious Frenzy. It is the poetry of 
Fact and the normal Life condition, as 
against the implacable fury of the Zealot 
and the Religionaire. A radical intel- 
lectual revolt, it must have seemed at 
the day and time, against the pretensions 
of Islam, and the more than Arabian 
Nights Tales of the founder of that 
creed. 

It is the Religious element, however, 
of his surroundings which, undoubtedly, 
gives color and depth to the picture he 
presents for our contemplation. His 
Rubaiyat is, in a sense, the despairing 
intellectual outcome of his struggle to 
reduce the weird Religious imaginings 
of his time into harmony with the pro- 
saic facts of existence. That he was 
unsuccessful, his verses show ; but the 
Poet does not despair. He accepts the 
good things of Life, and over all main- 
tains that invincibly cheerful spirit, 
9 



Prologue 

which, in calm disillusion, faces the in- 
evitable happenings of Mortal Existence. 

Omar extends across the centuries 
the sturdy hand of a bon-comradie to all 
that shall follow after. As for us, we 
admire his equanimity, We are glad in 
the steady cheer of his spirit. 

Times have changed since then, and 
creeds, too, have changed, both in their 
interpretation, and the methods em- 
ployed in propagating them. The ques- 
tion, in Religious matters, is no longer, 
"What must I believe, under peril of 
decapitation?" but, "What can I be- 
lieve, in consonance with Fact and 
Reason?" 

We have come to know a good many 
things since the old Persian Philosopher 
laid down for his final rest in the rose 
garden of Naishipur. Many of the 
Problems of Life have been reduced, in 
these later days, to their lowest terms. 
10 



Prologue 

Every now and again some old-time fac- 
tor of mystery has been eliminated. 
Under Scientific Investigation it has 
been found to be a result of some here- 
tofore not understood, but none the less 
law regulated, activity of the universal 
Force Medium. The practically, instan- 
taneous nature of sight transmission to 
the human eye is now measurably un- 
derstood, with all of its accompanying 
phenomena, including color. We know 
definitely in what consists the vibratory 
transfer of heat, light, and power, more 
especially observed in the case of the 
enormous Solar output. The phen- 
omena leading to and accompanying 
the growth of plant and vegetable Life 
are readil}' found in the experimental 
data of our Specialists. The interchange 
of disintegration and building up of 
molecules, in the leaf of the plant, 
under the vibratory action of the Solar 
11 



Prologue 

heat ray, is more or less familiar to 
most of us. 

And then we have gotten down, in 
recent years, to some fairly intelligible 
conception of the fundamentals of the 
Physical Life, itself. A continuous met- 
abolic change within the tissues, seems a 
sine qua non, of its maintenance. What 
is the basis of metabolism ? Chemical 
combination. What actuates chemical 
combination? The electric potentials 
of the atom and molecule. But the 
electric potentials are simply a conden- 
sation of the Universal Medium about 
these material centers. 

So there we are. All roads of the 
ancient world led to Rome; so the 
Modern Investigator, in whatever path 
of physical or even psychical research, 
if he gets to the bottom of things, finds 
himself at the last, confronting this lim- 
itless Actuator of Life and Matter. 
12 



Prologue 

Indeed, it would be idle to enumerate. 
All phenomena are, in their finality, 
traceable to some law of action of the 
All-pervading Medium on Matter. All 
mysteries are resolved into one — that of 
the essential nature of the Force Me- 
dium, itself, and of the manner of its 
action upon the material molecule. An 
accompanying proposition, doubtless 
permanently unsolvable, is, as to the 
manner of the transfer of attractive force 
— whether in the simple form of the 
magnet or electro-magnet, or in those 
enormous potencies extending between 
cosmic bodies. 

Some have said, that with us, the day 
of Poetry has passed — that with the 
modern complete knowledge of the ma- 
chinery of Nature, and the accompany- 
ing narrowing of the field of the Un- 
known, that the imagination is necessa- 
rily restricted in its action. But yet, are 
13 



Prologue 

we not confronted, at every turn, by this 
greater mystery? 

Perhaps, even in the matter of Poetry, 
what we lose on the one hand, we may 
gain on the other, and, in the coming 
time, Poetry itself, be harnessed to the 
simple statement of facts, which, in 
themselves, have the elements of Poetry. 
May not the high water mark of the 
Poetry of the future be that which shall 
the nearest approximate to a realistic 
depiction of the workings of the unseen, 
the immaterial, the intangible, but all- 
pervading, and all-powerful Force Actu- 
ator of Matter and of Life? — The change- 
less, all-potent, everywhere-present ten- 
ant of that limitless Cosmos, whose 
boundaries are those of unending Space, 
and which the modern Physicist desig- 
nates as the Ether? 

The utmost which the writer has pro- 
posed, in the following pages, is to prof- 
14 



Prologue 

fer, from our present standpoint, the 
after-word of Science, in explanation of 
the seemingly, unsolvable Life-problems, 
which, in every direction, confronted the 
vision of the Philosopher-Poet of Persia 
in the mediaeval surroundings of his day. 
For this purpose, while retaining the 
metrical form of the original, he has 
found it necessary to sacrifice, to a not 
inconsiderable extent, the diaphanous 
texture of a poetic imagery to the some- 
what rigid requirements of ascertained 
fact and a logical deduction from estab- 
lished data. Truth, alone, is omnipo- 
tent ; her's, is the regal right of way. 



15 



The Rubaiyat 

of the 

Twentieth Century 



THE RUBAIYAT 

OF 

THE 20th CENTURY 

BY 

CALCHAS 



i 

For Me, the purpled skies that herald 
Morn — 

The gilded chariot wheels of coming 

Dawn — 
The hour of blissful calm and restful 

peace 
That broods the Silent World ere Day 

is born. 

ii 

Oh Saki ! When from all things I may 

pass 
As fading flower, or wisp of scattered 
grass, 
Be this the garnered purport of my 
years 
That Calm and Peace that naught can 
e'er harass ! 

19 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

in 

Would'st Thou the scheme of things 
but backward turn — 

Life's garish Day bring back to bliss- 
ful Morn — 
Then might the Tree of Knowledge 
bloom unsought, 

Why, then, its golden fruit we might 
but spurn. 

IV 

"Ah ! But the hours of Morn are brief" 

we say, 
"And dawn is but a presage of the 

Day; 
No hand may backward roll the scroll 
of Fate 
Nor Roseate Dawn, itself, may longer 
stay. 

v 

"Mayhap, indeed, that Faith of Morn 

were best ; 
If happy so, why then, You were but 
blest; 
Per contra, You may have a fad for 
Truth, 
And choosing it may chance it on the 
rest." 

20 



The Rubaiydt of the 20th Century 

VI 

To such, the breaking Dawn a summons 
brings — 

The portaled gate of Day wide open 
flings; 
To those that sow, and those that joy- 
ful reap, 

Full short shall pass the hours on fleet- 
ing wings. 

VII 

This Message brief, it brings, in haste, 

to You— 
"From out past Embryo, lo comes the 

new ! 
The continental lift of Thought up- 

rears 
The wide horizons of a broader view." 

VIII 

To Basic Fact has delved the Later 

Day— 
The Laws of Force that in each Atom 
play- 
Could we but pass one single step 
beyond 
Then might we not Life's Scheme of 
Being weigh? 

21 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

IX 

Could our Discernment, downward 

reaching, spell 
The Name that stands for grouping of 

the Cell, 
Then, might we not Life build up and 

maintain? 
And Life's whole Secret then, be our's, 

as well? 

x 
"Ah, but," You say, "all Knowledge is 

revealed ; 
The rest, from Man the Gods have kept 

concealed." 

Yea ! but the Revelation's here and 
now 
And He that seeks, its potencies shall 

wield ! 

XI 

And shall we fondly cling to what is 

old? 
Nay, but the Newer Thought its place 
shall hold ; 
The filmy garniture of Dreams shall 
pass, 
And tawdry gilt give way to Truth's 
pure gold. 

22 



The Rubdiydt of Ike 20th Century 

XII 

We know, indeed, the Actuating Cause ; 
Full well, we know its never changing 

Laws 
Which hold alike the Atom and the 

Star; 
Shall Knowledge, in its wider limit 

pause ? 

XIII 

The primal cell growth of the Mortal 

Clay 

That builds the Fabric, and the chemic 
play 

Of forming Molecule within — were 
these 
Explained — why then, of Life, we'd 
know the way. 

XIV 

"The Last Resolvement," ah, there lies 
the clew ; 

In it we read whence Life, itself, is 
due — 

The viewless Ether, actuating all — 

From out the Old, ever evolving New. 

23 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 
xv 

In balanced equipoise each Atom stands, 
Held in the all-pervading Ether's hands, 
Inspired by it, to Force and Life gives 
birth, 
Now here, now there it moves at its 
commands. 
# * * * * * 

XVI 

Ah ! Why deem Life as such a Priceless 

Thing 
When Fleeting Time its end so quick 

shall bring? 
Might it not rather seem a Random 

Toy 
Which, wrought from Matter, Force may 

careless fling? 

XVII 

In freakish fashion, thus into the World, 
By Nature's grim caprice, thus careless 
hurled, 
With oversense endowed, this fear- 
some Child 
Doth ask the reason Why, in vortex 
whirled. 

24 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XVIII 

And from dark cliffs of Fate, encircling 

nigh, 
Comes ever back the shouted answer — 

Why? 
From narrowing circle grim the Echo 

came — 
The shouted Question was its own 

Reply. 

XIX 

One sang to Fate a song of Love Divine, 
That soothed all Human Hearts, and 
thrilled like wine, 
And, Lo, from beetling walls upreared 
came back 
A song that throbbed with Ecstacy Sub- 
lime ! 

xx 

The endless files of Life in gladsome 

throng, 
From rank to rank, its swelling notes 
prolong; 
But thankless Sticklers, are we, You 
and I, 
That ask some valid Reason for the 
song. 

25 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XXI 

One thing is sure — When You shall 

question Fate 
The Answer will but be, that which You 

state. 
The Dreams that to the Dreamer have 

been told, 
As very Truth the Dreamer shall relate. 



XXII 

Can word of Seer, in fitting terms express 

Why Life demands that Atoms coalesce? 

The Human Atom most of all — why it 

Should find the joy of Life in sweet 

caress ? 

XXIII 

"Ah, but such transient joy goes soon," 

You say, 
"And Brooding Care comes in its wake, 
to stay;" 
E'en so, were it not best, the Flagon 
fill 
And drink to Life one gladsome Cup, to 
day? 

26 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XXIV 

Oh days of toil and Hopes of Heavenly 

Bliss ! 
If Paradise were only such as this, 

That were enough, I trow — if all its 

years 
Were but the Joy prolonged, of Love's 

sweet kiss. 

xxv 
There is no better thing beneath the 

skies, 
Nor all the vaunted Wisdom of the 
Wise, 
Or Sages Learned, can point a blither 
way 
Than this, that with the fleeting mo- 
ment flies. 

XXVI 

Ah, how Time flies ! The footsteps of 

high noon 
Had but just passed, and then, so soon ! 
So soon ! 
The outward sloping shadows of the 
Night, 
That comes apace — and you pale rising 
Moon ! 

27 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XXVII 

But Shadows are we, dancing on the 
floor — 

Bubbles, that break along an Endless 

Shore ; 
The Light goes out — the Waters fail 

— and then, 
Bubble and Shadow are No More — No 

More ! 

XXVIII 

Out from the Dark — and back to Dark- 
ness deep — 

For one brief day, the Phase of Life we 
keep ; 
All else is Shade ; and Life, itself, is 
but 

The Transient Waking of a Dreamless 
Sleep. 

XXIX 

Think of the multitudes since Time 

began — 
The numbers vast of Prehistoric Man ! 
What were one Atom of that mighty 

mass? 
What is the Gist of Life, and where the 

Plan? 

28 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XXX 

One says, "That all of these are but a 

few, 
That, lost one day, the next appear 

anew ; 
As Actors pass upon the mimic stage, 
And straightway then, come back again 



to view." 



XXXI 



Ah, sure ! But could we in such Life 

take pride — 
If each were steeped in foul Oblivion's 

tide 
Till friends and name were all alike 

forgot ? 
Add Life to Life, what gain might be 

implied? 



"The Key is Faith," one said "Believe, 

and then 
The waning sight that fades to earthly 
ken 
Shall dawn on glories bright of Para- 
dise." 
But who those Splendors yet have seen? 
and when ! 

29 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XXXIII 

" So You," he said, " tire not of Toilsome 
Way 

The Path shall upward lead to Endless 
Day, 

And Being Bright on wings of glory 
rise 

From out this Chrysalis of Mortal 

Clay. 

XXXIV 

" The infancy of Man such things re- 
peats 

From age to age; must we be fed on 
sweets 
Like children? Let's be content with 
facts," 

The Skeptic said, "nor sigh for dainty 
meats. 

xxxv 

"Sooth, who has asked? Why on your 

marrow bones? 
Why speak in suppliant wavering 
tones? 
Give ear to Nature's Law and learn it 
well ; 
Her's are no mystic rites ; no pomp of 
Thrones. 

30 



The Rubaiydt of the 20th Century 

XXXVI 

"This one thing doth she ask that you 

shall do — 
Giye earnest heed that one and one 

make two ; 
Add Fact to Fact; deduce by Logic 

Thought 
The Formula that states the Problem 

true. 

XXXVII 

" Important people are we, You and I, 
From our own standpoint. We're the 

reason why 
All things exist. Yet even as the 

grass 
We fade ; and just as impotently die. 

XXXVIII 

"To us, the Fading Flower a measure 

true 
Holds good of Life ; it failed, and then 
there grew 
From stock or seed, straightway an- 
other stalk, 
But gone for aye is that which once we 
knew." 
* * * * * * 



31 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Ce7itury 

XXXIX 

Could we recoup the mould wherein are 

cast 
Fair Day and Night, when Day and 

Night are past, 
What sweet rehearsing of the Scenic 

Play 
Might come, in finished product, at the 

last. 

XL 

And then, with wise fore-knowledge, 

could but we, 
As, looking backward now, the Drama 

see, 
Forewarned had been tore-armed with 

magic spell ; 
How wise the Play ! How well our Part 

should be ! 

XLI 

Think but of that which yesterday the 

sun shone on ! 
Actors and Actresses they now are 
gone — 
How passing sweet, could we the 
Scene renew — 
The Characters redraw, as once were 
drawn ! 

32 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XLII 

But since its Sun has sank to rise no 

more 
Were it not better far to shut the door 
Upon the Past and in the Present 

stay, 
Nor dream that it may have some glad 

encore? 

*rE SfC 3fC 3fC S|C SfC 

XLIII 

Can you conceive of Time the ceaseless 

flow, 
Which, ending or beginning may not 

know? 

Think of a stream witrj neither source 
nor mouth 
Whose all-embracing tide shall ever on- 
ward go ! 

XLIV 

"The mountains rear," you say, "to 

Heaven their wall ; 
The yawning valleys deep, between them 
fall." 
And yet, we know, from cosmic point 
of view, 
That but one simple curved line bounds 
them all. 

33 



Tlie Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XLV 

The whirring wheel, that marks the sec- 
ond's course — 

How can it guage those might realms of 
Force 
That in the Mainspring lie? Or move- 
ment slow 

Of it trace backward to its primal source? 

XLVI 

How strange, that from the mere insen- 
sate mold 

Should ceaseless spring such shapes as 
we behold ! 
Such Paragons, of structure marvel- 
lous, 

As those upon the Scroll of Life en- 
rolled ! 

XLVII 

Or that in substance so intangible 
Such mighty potencies of Force should 
dwell ! 
The bonds that bind us to the Solar 
Mass, 
And hold the great Star Universe as 
well! 

34 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XLVIII 

When the Great Saki on the Heavenly 
floor 

Sapphire and Amethyst did wide out- 
pour, 
Star blazed on Star through all the 
circling dome, 

And deepest Darkness stayed the sight 
no more. 

XLIX 

Night's sable curtain then was upward 

rolled ; 
Backward flung its pall of darkness, fold 

on fold, 

When the great Star System's orient 
splendor 
Adown the Spaces broke in amethystine 
gold. 

L 

Dim fires that glowed, in firstlings of 

their birth 
As Morning rays that stream through 
mists of Earth, 
And thence in brightness wax from 
hour to hour, 
Till Noon's white light proclaims their 
fervid worth. 

35 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 



And then, the afternoon of fading light, 
That wanes, by slow degrees, to Cosmic 

Night 
Of planetary forms opaque, on which 
Life's Drama may attain some tragic 

height. 



LII 

The Dinosaur, could he his story tell, 
Might sound to human ears some sombre 
knell; 
Might tell of Cosmic Cyclone sweep- 
ing vast, 
As that which cast on Martinique its 
spell; 

LIII 

How split Earth's crust, from shore to 

shore, 
While downward deluging of waters 
pour 
Upon the central ball of liquid fire, 
And thence were outward cast with deaf- 
ening roar. 

36 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

LIV 

Dissociate gases — walls of blighting fire 
That upward to the topmost Heavens 

aspire ; 
Whose lurid sheet of Hell enwraps 

the Globe, 
And at whose touch, all Forms of Life 

expire. 

LV 

How often, think you, since Old Time 

began, 
Has been rehearsed such tragedy of 

Man? 
Race upward groping into sentient 

mould, 
Till sudden ending close its Life's brief 

span. 

LVI 

Evolvement slow, through Endless Time 

and Space 
And then the sudden, final, Coup-de- 
grace — 
Now here, now there, resounds the 
Knell of Fate- 
To Cosmic Ear the Requiem of a Race. 
37 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

LVII 

"That Tragic End," you say, "is but the 
curse 

Of Deity for Sin." Ah, no ; 'tis some- 
thing worse ! 
And, mark the sorry nature of the 
truth, 

'Tis but an incidental play of Force ! 

LVIII 

— Unerring Law, that through Creation 

runs, 
Whose mighty Universe of Stars and 

Suns 
Their retinues of Planets each control, 
On which, perchance, some Mould of 

Life has sprung 

LIX 

From lowest root, and in their radiance 

bright 
Climbed slowly upward to the sentient 
height 
Of Reason; one fleeting moment 
basked therein — 
And then the Cosmic Finale, and the 
Night. 

38 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

LX 

Just for one little day, they preened their 

pride — 
" For us the World was made ; Creation 

wide 
The Gods have builded well for Man's 

abode," 
In such glad Faith they lived, and in it 

died. 

LXI 

"Since One has cared," they said, "Us 

to create, 
And planned our every want to satiate, 
By Faith, we know that he will guard 

and keep 

And raise Us to some future High Es- 
tate. 

LXII 

" For if a Life so brief bespeak such 
care, 

The Gods will sure, some Future Life 
prepare, 
And they who worthily shall labor 
here 
Shall reap a Life of Blissful Glory 
there." 

39 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

LXIII 

"Ah then," you say, "the Fools, per- 
chance, were wise. 

Where Ignorance is Bliss — why, then, 
the prize 
Of Life goes to the Fool. The goal 
of Life 

Is Joy; and he but wins, who joyful 
dies." 

LXIV 

And yet, is't fair, a frothing proverb's 

sound 
So should beguile, on Being's topmost 

round ? 
If that we dream should stand for that 

we have — 
Why then, the Beggar surely would be 

crowned. 

LXV 

Relapse to Fact ! Give Truth her right 

of way ! 
Who boasted yesterday — where now are 
they? 
The Shouting Seers, and they who 
followed on 
Alike, with mound of Earth, are crowned 
today. 

40 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

LXVl 

They asked the Whence and Whither 

of their Way — 
"Surely some Reason gives to Us our 

Day." 
'Tis but the narrow view that deems 

it so ; 
All Life is but a happening of the Play. 

LXVII 

The Stage — the Universe ; the Actors — 

two — 
Matter and Force, whose interactions 

through 
All Space, mark the Eternities of 

Time. 
Lo, from the Old Evolvement cometh 

New ! 



LXVIII 

Then straight another voice took up the 
strain, 

That from Life's deepest root had rose 
again 
And from his standpoint gave a ver- 
sion true, 
That might the Miracle of Life explain. 
41 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

LXIX 

"In mixture due, of moisture heat and 
air 

Lo the Great Builder doth such Life 

prepare ! 
Foundations deep, beyond the ken of 

Man, 
Thence rising upward in a structure 

fair. 

LXX 

" Aye, if all mould of Life were wholly 

lost- 
Atoms dissociate, in Chaos tossed — 
Lo, from this primal stage of Noth- 
ingness 
Would the Great Builder start, nor 
count the cost. 

LXXI 

"Step onto step the mighty plan un- 
fold; 
Step add to step, as iEons vast un- 
rolled ! 
We pine for that we may not have, 
and yet, 
Would we half care, unending to be- 
hold? 

42 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

LXXII 

"One Potent Agent through Creation 

thrills ; 
No Space, minutest, but its presence 

fills; 
The Force we term electric — 'tis the 

same 
That wields the Universes as it wills. 



LXXIII 

" So you but tire of such vast Cosmic 
Play 

Then shall the Atom be to you a stay; 

See each to each in combination held 
By the same Power that rules the Heav- 
enly Way ! 



LXXIV 

" The Body's structure doth it permeate ; 
Each constituent atom actuate; 

And up from lowest realms, of mere 
brute sense 
That which we deem a Soul, doth thus 
create. 

43 



The Rubaiyat of the 20th Century 

LXXV 

"What else, think you, than this, could 

work the spell 
Whose primal fashioning enwrought the 

Cell, 
With power of reproduction of its 

Kind? 
On such Foundation, Lo, it buildeth 

well." 

LXXVI 

Yea, all Time's secrets are, but this re- 
vealed ; 

Its Entity, alone, to us concealed ; 

To Forms of Force and Life, how 
gives it birth? 

How, all their countless armies doth it 
wield? 

LXXVII 

Yon Sphere of blazing fire, whose radi- 
ance bright 
Endows this rolling Globe with Life and 
Light — 
What, think you, are the bonds whose 
tension holds 
Each bound to each, with such Titanic 
might? 

44 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

LXXVIII 

Ask of the Atom — it doth feel the same — 

That forceful pull — you give to it a name 

And deem it thus explained; but who 

can give 

The very how and manner of the game? 



LXXIX 

Inscrutable ! Explain it if you can ; 

Just when, and where, and how, this 
Force began ! 

Its Essence what? Cognizance gives 
it not 
To sight or touch or any sense of Man. 



LXXX 

That which it does — that only can we 
see — 

The mighty Sum of all the things that 
be. 
Alike, the Atom and the Cosmic Mass 
Proclaim this vast potential Entity. 
45 



The Riibdiydt of the 20th" Century 

LXXXI 

Inspired by it, some Problems we have 
solved — 

The speed with which some distant star 
revolved — 
All Matter one with our familiar 
forms — 

Matter and Force, for aye, the same, in- 
volved. 

LXXXII 

"Ah, but," you say, "What's Matter, but 

a name? 
All Forms of it from out the Ether came ; 
Each into each, in last Resolvement 

given — 
Both, in the final outcome, are the 

same." 



LXXXIII 

If this be true, it follows then, of course, 

Matter, itself, is but compacted Force ; 

This is the Problem of the Later Day 

To trace the Law of Being to its source. 

46 



The Rubaiydt of the 20th Century 

LXXXIV 

Why then, if that be true, we can but 

say, 
Of Forms Material, " That for one 

Day- 
One Transient Day of Time, they do 

but stand, 
Then, back into the Unseen pass away. 

LXXXV 

"Why then, this Mighty World— this 

Rolling Ball, 
Yea ! all of Things that Be, are Spirits 

all ! 
In round of Change, they at the last, 

into 
Such Primal Form, intangible, shall 

fall." 

LXXXVI 

From Change to Change, — such is the 

Cosmic Scheme; 
And Things we deem that Are, they do 

but seem, 
In lapsing years of Endless Time they 

pass, 
Like as the baseless fabric of a Dream. 



47 



The Rubdiyat of the 20th Century 

LXXXVII 

" Ah, then ! " You say, " If it may true ap- 
pear 

That e'en in Matter Gross, such Change 
inhere, 
Why then, this matter-weighted, Hu- 
man Soul 

Shall surely rise, some day, to Higher 
Sphere. 

LXXXVIII 

"And they who jeered the erstwhile 
Form Divine, 

And but as Clay would all its scope de- 
fine — 
Lo now, the Flouted Clay, itself, doth 
change — 

Doth change, and with a Light Trans- 
figured shine ! " 

LXXXIX 

"You grasp at straws!" the Skeptic 

blandly spoke. 
"In thoughts of self your mind doth 
blindly grope; 
E'en as on ancient tombstone oft en- 
graved, 
Your reasoning powers have, ' died in 
joyful hope.' 

48 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

xc 

"To Faith, it matters not that you may 

be 
But as one drop, dissolved in boundless 

sea — 
Nay, more — your very atoms scattered 

wide — 
Lost in the Realm of vast Immensity." 



xci 
If but you tire not of dull Logic's weight, 
Or proven Facts to recapitulate 

From whence deductions broad are 
made, 

Then these, will I, in turn, most briefly 
state. 

xcn 

By Science high there has been plainly 
shown 

The truth of Newton's Law, "All Force 
is one 
From Atom to the Star, and Distance 
Squared 
A measure true holds good from Mite 
to Sun." 

49 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XCIII 

And others then, Experts in Chemic 

Lore, 
When tracing Actuation to the core, 
Have found the Force involved to be 

Electric, 
And to it all Atomic Force thus score. 



xciv 

And then the Wireless Message clearly 
proves 

The Medium of Space through which it 
moves 
To be Electric, and hence, the Ether 
vast 

One with Electric Force it plain be- 
hooves. 

xcv 

So these Concepts stand proved — then 

may not we 
Assume that it must demonstrably be 
That in the Ether lies the Potent 
Force 
Of all those Things Material that we 
see? 

50 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

XCVI 

For if one Actuating Force alone, 
There be, from Atom to the Star, that 

zone 
Of Power must be Electric — since that 

it is 
Which in the Atom holds, as has been 

shown. 

xcvn 

And thus that old-time Problem of the 

Earth 
Solution finds, and Gravitation's worth, 
In terms of Force, the Ether wields ; 

'tis this 
That rules the great Electric Universe. 



XCVIII 

Built up of Atoms ; into Atoms turned ; 
Man, one day born, the next day is eat 
by worms. 
Within the circle of his Life's brief 
span 
May he not yet, the Scheme of Being 
learn ? 

51 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

xcix 

Think of the life of the Ephemeron ! 
How swift, to us, its years would seem 

go on ! 
Whose Birth, and Life and Death, — 

one fleeting day 
Should the full cycle of its Being con ! 



So like, mayhap, in Cosmic Time, may 

seem 
Those evanescent markings which we 

deem 
A measure fit, of Time ; that which we 

call 
Eternity, may be some transient gleam 



ci 

That, in recurring flashes, darts across 
The flood of Time Unending and is lost. 
Each Star Evolvement may but mark 
A passing hour unto the Cosmic Host. 
52 



Tlie Rubaiydt of the 20th Century 

en 

As one that journeys far by swiftest 
train, 

Where landscape flashes by and fields 
amain, 

With din of whirring wheels and noise 
of steam, 

So fast we rush, Life's farther shore to 
gain. 

cm 

Or like as bark, that on the billows 
whirled, 

For one brief day, its flaunting sails un- 
furled; 
Then straightway passed from sight, 
with westering Sun 

Adown the sloping border of the World. 

civ 
So brief the space betwixt us and the 

Gaol! 
So short the Day, ere Night doth on us 

roll! 

Could we the Rythm catch of Cosmic 
Time, 

Might we not grasp the meaning of the 
Whole? 

****** 
53 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

cv 

A Demon of Unrest once thralled me 
quite ; 

Enwrapped my Soul in gruesome, shad- 
owy light — 
What was the All of Space? Its limit 
where? 

Such question hurled I at the Cosmic 
Night. 

cvi 

About the border of the Rolling World 
I swept, on wings of Light, with pinions 

furled ; 
Slipped off the Robe of Clay, that 

weighted down, 
Then, as a sunbeam straight is onward 

hurled, 

cvn 
Outward I sped. All sense of Time 

was lost; 
One instant, had flashed by the outer 
post 
Of Planetary path, and then, the yawn- 
ing gulf 
Thrown out around each member of the 
Host. 

54 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CVIII 

As One that dreams a dream, and wakes 

to hear 
Sweet Bells of Morn vibrate upon the 

ear, 
The daylight of another Sun had 

dawned — 
Had dawned and blazed, to sink, and 

disappear. 

cix 

And swift, there passed another, red, 
like wine; 

To right, and left, a Host, in serried line 
Swept by. The changing Constella- 
tions gleamed 

In combinations strange, that bore no 
sign. 

ex 

I caught the rythm vast, of Cosmic 

Time — 
Of slow Eternity's unending chime; 
The impact of the fleeting )'ears was 
lost, 
And Life, to me, was one immortal 
prime. 

55 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CXI 

Long ages of Old Earth had come and 

gone 
As still relentlessly, my course kept on. 
And now its multi-myriad hosts were 

passed, 
The great Star-system's outer verge was 

won — 



CXII 

Where trails its path of light the far- 
thest star. 

One seeming moment brief, did I debar 
The strident onward motion of my 
way; 

Then on my cosmic sight there gleamed 
afar, 



CXIII 

A glittering ring of opalescent light — 

Like diadem upon the brow of Night- 

Another Universe of radiant suns : 



Betwixt, there yawned abysmal depth 
56 



and height. 



77/ e Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CXIV 

As into these I plunged, the restful 

sense 
Of Cosmic Night fell on my Soul ; the 

tense 
Condition of the psychic nervedropped 

off, 
And all the gross concepts of Matter 

dense. 



cxv 

An Age — an iEon — were but points of 

Time ; 
The bells of vast Eternity, whose chime 
Unending is the music of the Spheres, 
Came sweet, as sound of an unceasing 

rhyme. 

cxvi 
I saw the birth, the ripening, and decay 
Of Stars and Suns ; I sensed the inter- 
play 
Of Force and Matter, and the outward 
whirl 
Of Systems vast, which gives to them 
their Day. 

57 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CXVII 

I marked the several stages of their 

course — 
Their slow absorption of Magnetic 

Force, 
As radiation brought that cooler state, 
From which such Potencies are not 

divorced. 



CXVIII 

As on our Earth, the thin and cooling 

shell 
E'en now, doth feel of Force such potent 

spell, 
So, at the last, 'twixt cosmic bodies 

cold, 
Magnetic bonds, with mighty strength 

impel. 

cxix 

And then — the final throes, in which 

Force hurled 
A Maelstrom Vast, of opaque Suns, which 
whirled 
In spirals inward, till a seething glow 
Of flaming Nebula was wide unfurled. 
58 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

cxx 

Explosive, grinding impact, mass on 

mass ; 
Atoms dissociate, in Chaos cast ; 

Dissevered molecules — a spheric 

bulk- 
To this resolves the Universe at last. 



cxxi 

One phase was done of that unending 

course; 
Which flows from far, illimitable source ; 
One circling round, of number infinite, 
Of Matter wielded in the hands of Force. 



cxxn 

Such movement slow, can Mortal under- 
stand ? 
The opening and the shutting of a hand 
'Twas like, from cosmic standpoint, 
but to view 
From Earth — no sight of Man might 
apprehend. 

59 



The Rubaiyat of the 20th Century 

CXXI1I 

Ten thousand time ten thousand had it 
been; 

Ten million times ten million, yet again ; 
No number vast could least approxi- 
mate 

A date, when Time's Eternal March 
began. 

cxxiv 

And Fancy's farthest stretch could see 

no end, 
Adown those long Eternities that blend 

In indistinguishable haze, in which 
The Future's mighty ^Eons, vast extend. 



cxxv 
To Mortal ear can one explain the way 
Of change to Time Unending? From 
the day 
That measure brief doth span, from 
sun to sun, 
To that, whose portals vast no bar shall 
stay? 

60 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CXXVI 

Can you to me the secret way disclose 
Of Force, which each Material Atom 

knows? 
The bonds, intangible to sense, that 

bind 
The Atom and the Cosmic Mass in 

throes 



cxxvn 
Of motion without end? The interplay 
Of Molecule, which forms, of Life, the 
stay? 
That phase of Evolution trace in full 
Which marks the outline of a Cosmic 
Day. 



CXXVIII 

Look at this miracle of Cosmic Force — 

Transmitted ceaselessly, from radiant 

source, 

A hundred million series intercross 

Of Ether waves, yet each distinctive 

holds. 

61 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

cxxix 

Nothing is lost; no jar of Ether waves; 

No wastage of transmission, as it laves 

The far Eternities of Space — its sum 

The same — diffusion only, distance gave. 



cxxx 

"But Mortal Life," one said, "He stands 

aghast, 
Who views the mould wherein such Life 

is cast ; 
Its topmost height and flower is but a 

wreck, 
Which on rock and lee shore driveth 

fast." 

CXXXI 

"As for the Past — the least that's said 

were best ; 
Historic facts, in merest outline dressed, 
Were gruesome reading; he who 
dropped 
Oblivion's curtain on it — were thrice 
blessed." 

62 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

cxxxn 
Go back to record dim of History — 
The ghoulish rites, anent the mystery 
That shrouded Life ; the Human Sac- 
rifice, 
Where altars smoked with blood — a 
Devil's orgie. 



CXXXIII 

Or note those times more recent in their 
date, 

When cruel persecution might await 
The Unbeliever and the Heretic, 

Whose feet might wander from the pre- 
scribed gate. 



CXXXIV 

Do you but mind the Thought of Yes- 
terday? 
The Ignorance, that even then held 
sway ? 
That made of Man, the buffet and the 
toy 
Of weirdly sportive Demons, in their 
play? 

63 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

cxxxv 
Folks of this earlier day would time 

employ 
In argument — "Would God, indeed de- 
stroy 
With brimstone and with fire, those 
he had made?" 
To the Elect, a sort of sombre joy 

cxxxvi 
That he, himself, was saved, would ease 

the woe, 
And in a kind of grim perspective, show 
A background deep, of dark funereal 
hue, 
Which on high lights of bliss effect 
should throw. 



CXXXVII 

"Yea ! All of Men, in Hell shall seeth^ 
ing quake." 

So said, of old, the Seers. You say, 

" Mistake? 
Not all?" Why then, We'll say, "nine 

tenths ; " 
What minds? A fraction more or less 

we'll take. 

64 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CXXXVIII 

Most lucky thing it was, the scheme was 
naught ; 

For if such God had been, as Man had 
thought, 
'Tis plain to see, He straight to Hell 
had sent 

They who for Him had held dishonor- 
ing thought. 

CXXXIX 

Vast Problems here, of Destiny per- 
plexed; 

All Time they filled— both This World, 
and the Next. 
Those of This World were hard 
enough to grasp — 

As for the Next, what might you then 
expect ! 

CXL 

Some wholly had their thoughts en- 
grossed in this — 
And some, in Worlds of Everlasting 
Bliss 
Took stock. Alike, were garnered in 
the sheaf, 
For He that reaped no single stalk did 
miss. 

65 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CXLI 

Some sought in pleasures deep, their 

sense to drown ; 
And others, for an Everlasting Crown. 
A long drawn note for Future Bliss 

sufficed 
For some; and other some preferred 

cash down. 



CXLII 

"I go where Honor calls," One said, 

forsooth, 
"Naught else the blood can sate of 

Fiery Youth." 
And yet, what higher Blazonry had 

Time 
Than simply this— A Servant of the 

Truth. 



cxliii 

The Dawn of Knowledge — this has 

brought the key 
To us of Life — the "Open Sesame" 

Of Fact, interpreted by Logic Thought, 
In light of which, ail things we plainly 
see. 

66 



Hie Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CXLIV 

And )'et, we pine, betimes, for gleaming 
skies — 

Celestial Glories bright of Paradise; 
Alack ! and Alas ! for their banish- 
ment ! 

The Dream transcends the facts of the 
Wise. 

CXLV 

The Racial Thought, by Revelation 
newer, 

Bed rock of Truth has reached — founda- 
tions sure 
Are laid, whereon shall rise a structure 
grand, 

Whose outline clear no Mystery shall 
obscure. 

CXLVl 

But we miss the sweep of Angelic 

wings — 
Yea, something is gone from the Scheme 
of Things — 
That Gilded Dream of the radiant 
dawn, 
Which the glare of Noon to Oblivion 
flings. 

67 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CXLVII 

And then One said, "What ! the Devil 

is dead? 
It's a rank mistake, that Science has 

made ! 
The Devil we surely can't do without, 
The failures up here of Justice, to aid. 



CXLVIII 

"Then, 'The Sweet Bye and Bye/ for 

which we sigh — 
You don't mean that's done for — knocked 

into pi? 
What else for the toils of Life would 

requite 
Like Unending Bliss in Mansions on 

High?" 

CXLIX 

"There must be a Boss, that answers 

for Fate." 
One said, "It's something preposterous 
to state, 
That this whole Universe hadn't a 
Maker! 
Itself, did anything ever create?" 
68 



The Rub&iy&t of the 20th Century 

CL 

"And what about Hell? Is that a mere 

fake? 
We've got to have that, just to keep 

things straight." 
He said: "And if there really is no 

Hell, 
It has certainly been a great mistake." 



CLI 

Then a Doctor, high in Microbic fame, 
Who, their shapes had studied, and 
knew by name, 
From his own Microscopical Stand- 
point 
The Problem of Life rose up to explain. 



CLII 

"The Eden, in which to Gods Man was 

kin, 
Means a Primal State where purely 
within 
The Body, there flowed the Life-giving 
blood. 
The Microbe stands for Original Sin ; 
69 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLIII 

"Whose entrance brought ending to Joy 

everywhere, 
And made of this Earth a pestilent lair 
For myriad forms of Corruption most 

foul- 
One dark Ghehenna of Death and 

Despair." 

CLIV 

"But daylight breaks; soon the night 

will be past ; 
Science, clear-eyed, has her horoscope 

cast; 
Some rare anti-toxin the blood shall 

purge- 
Man's physical form will be saved, at 

the last." 

CLV 

A Physicist then spoke — " 'Tis but the 

weight 
Of Matter gross, that sets the final date 
To Life. A few, brief years, its load 
we bear, 
Then 'neath it sink ; this is the curse of 
Fate." 

70 



The Rubdiydt of the 20/h Century 

CLVl 

"A body, then of form etherial, 
Shall we create by cultures serial? 

Or trace some process new, of Force, 
that shall 
From weight absolve the dense mate- 
rial? 

CLVII 

"'Tis Force that first prepares the Mor- 
tal road, 

And gives to us the strength to bear the 
load; 
May it not, at the last, to him that 
seeks, 

Reveal the secret ways of Life's abode?" 



CLVIII 

The Savant's listening ear, this Message 

thrilled — 
"That Function true of Life had been 
instilled 
In Matter gross ; and by due process 
formed, 
Was Something to be made, just as one 
willed. 

71 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLIX 

Life was Electric all ; and Vital Force 

Was Matter pregnant made, from such 
a source. 

Its potent spell with Being thus en- 
dowed 

The Primal Cell growth of the struct- 
ural course." 



CLX 

"'Twas thus," \ the Wireless Message 

plainly said, 
"That Life was first to Protoplasm wed, 
And thence by process of Evolvement 

slow, 
Had been, to Types of Higher Function 

led." 



CLXI 

The Psychist's ancient order blythe ex- 
pressed 
Their faith eternal, "that to be divest 
Of gross material clay, was cause for 

joy," 

And that, " by it," alone, the Soul was 
blest. 

72 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLXII 

"Could we with opened eyes the True 
Life sense, 

Our Ransomed Souls set free from Mat- 
ter dense, 
Then myriad hosts of gladsome Spirits 
bright 

For Mortal Life would more than recom- 
pense." 



CLXIII 

Which same a Materialist, hirsute and 

bland, 
Deemed a pure bluff, and would fain call 

the hand 
"Of the Beggarly Beggar that made it, 
Just to see," quoth he, "if he's got the 

sand." 



CLXIV 

The courteous Agnostic, calm and slow, 
Serenely smiling, viewed Time's fleeting 
show : 
On Dogmas of Belief, urbanely spoke 
This wisest word, " I really don't know. 
73 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLXV 

"The varied Creeds" he said "in this 

we blame, 
That with most zealous care they strive 

to gain 
Some place and power for Self, and 

thus would seek 
An answer for Life's Problem to obtain. 



CLXVI 

" For Us, the lofty Heights Impersonal ; 
To Us, All Truth its welcome tale shall 

tell, 
Unmarred by thought of Self. We 

take what comes. 
Whatever is, is right, and all is well." 



CLXVII 

Some claimed, "That Mind had a com- 
plete control 
Of Bodily Function, and governed the 
whole; 
And Death was but a cowardly habit, 
Superinduced by some weakness of 
Soul." 

74 



The Rubdiydt of tJie 20th Century 

CLXVIII 

And then, as voice that fell from some 

far spere, 
This Newer Gospel held the listening 

ear — 
"One Medium fills, of Space, the 

mighty realm, 
And all its Constellations doth uprear. 



CLXIX 

"Invisible, intangible to sense, 
Yet in, and by, and through it, Matter 
dense 
Is moved, like as a mere automaton, 
And all of Life derives its being thence. 



CLXX 

''By it we keep in instant touch of sight 

With the Material World; what we 

term light 

Are but its quivering vibrations, with 

Whose ceaseless interplay, Space is be- 

dight." 



75 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLXXI 

Then straight one said — he of an elder 

school — 
"Say! If this Force, Omnipotent, doth 

rule, 
With outer limit none — a Cosmic 

Realm, 
In each direction, an unending gaol, 



CLXXII 

"If Force all Life doth build up and 

maintain — 
Create, and recreate, for aye the same, 
Then you will pardon me if I may 

state 
That what you deem a change, is but in 

name." 

CLXXIII 

"It's Law," I said, "in place of Despot's 

rod — 
Unerring Law of Force that holds the 
rod 
Of Empire, and that wields the Uni- 
verse." 
"But I," he said, "prefer to call it God. 
76 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLXXIV 

"For me the Faith of Morn— the Fairy 
Wand 

That gives to Life a zest — the Pilgrim 
Band 

That toils with Hope, and ever on- 
ward moves 

Toward the Shining Shore and Beulah 
Land." 

****** 

CLXXV 

All Life is but a play ; some stake their 
game 

On gilded Nothingness, and reap the 
same ; 

The Bubble breaks; they grasp the 
empty air; 

And surely are not they, alone, to blame? 

CLXXV I 

Ah ! How Men strive for This World's 
wealth and power, 

Which, at its best, lasts but a fleeting 
hour ! 

And others, with a longer range, aspire 
To Crowns and Kingdoms of a Heavenly 
dower. 

77 



The Rubaiyat of the 20th Century 

CLXXVII 

Yea ! How they strive with strategem 

and wile, 
Through all the winding, devious, ways 

of Guile ! 
But in the reading of the Broader 

View 
Say, Brother, is it really worth the 

while? 



CLXXVIII 

You thought to bribe St. Peter at the 

gate, 
Such store of gathered ducats you will 

take ! 
What if the Gateman be not there at 

all? 
What if the Dreamer did but dream a 

fake ? 

CLXXIX 

Then wer't not better you had lived 

care free ? 
If such be Life, and only this Life be, 
Why, then, with every lowest Child of 

Earth 
You may but feel a bond of sympathy. 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLXXX 

Live and let live, while yet there's place 

and room ; 
Fades soon the flower, how bright soe'er 

its bloom — 
The whole Earth did you want? Why, 

really, now, 
You may not take it with you to the 

Tomb. 

CLXXX 1 

Yea ! If I deem as Gold some Metal 
Base, 

And hoard and store the same with 

eager haste, 
Myself, alone, ma}' I berate, when, at 

the last 
My Gold is Dross, my Diamonds are but 

Paste. 

CLXXXII 

"If Gold to Dross, and Hope to Ashes 
turn. 

What then," I asked, "may fires of 
Truth not burn? 
If remnant none, is left from hoarded 
store 
What Moral hence be drawn, that one 
may learn? " 

79 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLXXXIII 

Then, on my anxious ear, there broke a 
trill 

So full of Life and Joy that it might fill 
The Heavens high with soul-enrap- 
turing song, 

And all my sombre reasoning passed as 
nil ; — 

CLXXXIV 

"Heed not the Morrow ! But enjoy To- 

Day ! 
To live is Joy ; be happy while you 

may!" 
Never Philosophy was wiser heard 
Than from this feathered songster, in 

his lay. 

CLXXXV 

"But Hope," I said, "and Joy, so soon 

are spent ! 
What then," I asked, "for Mortals may 

be meant?" 
Then trilled the Bird a minor note 

that said — 

"Whatever cometh, let us be content." 
* # # * * * 

80 



The Rubdiydt of the 20th Century 

CLXXXVI 

Yea ! All things have an End. All doth 

but pass ! 
Full well we know We are but as the 

grass ! 
And so, when You have drained the Cup 

of Life, 
Your thanks express, and downward 

turn the glass. 



81 



THE SONG OF THE STARS 

"To him that believeth," Faith fervently 

cried, 
"There are Mansions of Bliss, just over 

the tide ; 
There's a City Supernal, of a splendor 

so bright 
That mortal eye may not cope with the 

sight; 
He that believeth — the Truth he will 

know. 
Its walls are of jasper, and its streets 

are of gold; 
Its gates are of pearl, and its glories 

unfold 
Unto him that believeth — ever thus 

be it so ! " 

83 



The Song of the Stars 

"Aye, fair is the Life Immortal ! 

In the radiant City of Light ! 
Whoso that passeth its portal 

Shall be robed in its garments of 
white. 
Time shall not age nor tempests alarm 

Through all the unending years." 
Thus, in its synchronous chorus, 

Sang the Song of the Spheres. 

Then a voice rose up in lugubrious 

swell, 
With a sound like a dirge, and a tone 

like a knell; 
It echoed along the dark Portals of 

Night 
And the Legions of Faith shrank back 

in affright; — 
' Swift falleth the pall of enveloping 

Doom ; 
Morn breaketh not on the Night of the 

Tomb. 

84 



The Song of the Stars 

Those are but Words— idle Words, that 

are beating the air — 
A phantasm of Hope, that forerunneth 

Despair — 
They are but Dreams — passing Dreams, 

that waking, are gone — 
An Echo prolonged of Man's Infantile 

Song — 
An Exhalant Vapor, that goes with the 

breath — 
A Flickering Gleam on the frontlet of 

Death." 

"All Life is wearisome labor 

Day after day of trouble and moil ; 
Sweet is the Night that evermore brings 

Rest from its purposeless toil." 
Down through the Limitless Spaces, 

Where is naught that stays or debars, 
In soothing refrain, thus to Mortals 

Came the cheery Song of the Stars. 
85 



The Song of the Stars 

When the Visions of Gladness had 

palled on the sight, 
And the Wailings of Sadness had waned 

in their might, 
The calm tones of Wisdom rose sweet 

on the ear, 
Like a Pean, far-sounding, but lowly and 

clear ; — 
" 'Neath the Banner of Knowledge — in 

the Knighthood of Truth — 
Life's stream floweth ever, in unending 

Youth. 
The Acolyte, meekly that waits at my 

shrine, 
Is bedight with the panoply of Service 

Divine ; 
I reward not with riches, or mansion, or 

throne ; 
A love for the Truth is my Guerdon 

alone." 
Ceased was the voice ; then, o'er the 

hush of the calm 
Broke the joyous Star Chorus, with 

Symphonic Psalm. — 
86 



The Song of the Stars 

" He that shall wait upon Wisdom — 

Who the Light of her Face shall be- 
hold— 
Shall be glad, with the Joy of the Morn- 
in & 

As it paints all the sky with its gold. 
Her's is the full note harmonic, 

With no jarring discord to mar ; 
Only with her is Happiness found, 

To, the bound of the uttermost star." 

A Pilgrim Savant, tired and worn, had 

reached, at last, the gaol 
Whose topmost height all Truth reveals, 

in full perspective whole. 
"In broadest view, the Past," he said, 

"seems but an empty name, 
Evolvement from Evolvement falleth, 

evermore the same ; 
The Universes come and go, responsive 

to the call 
Of that unseen but potent Force that 

ever wields them all ; 
S7 



The Song of the Stars 

And ever on the changing tide, in shift- 
ing view, remote or near 

From out the vast Unknowable, Life's 
evanescent forms appear. 

All Space the viewless Ether fills, with 
no smallest break or flaw 

And every Atom actuates, by definite, 
unchanging Law. 

In ultra-microscopic form — below the 
range where sight finds place 

It lays the deep foundations, whose top- 
stone is the Human Race. 

The Spectrum reads the flashing ray, 
from dim, remotest star 

And finds the same integral elements in 
motion everywhere. 

Their swift vibrations mark the throb- 
bing of the Universal Soul; 

Matter and the Force that wields it, are, 
each, a unitary whole. 

To him that grasps the Cosmic Problem, 
in its full concept I trow 

The Past, the Present and the Future, 
are one eternal — Now." 
88 



The Song of the Stars 

Then a mighty, chorusing shout 

Went up from the hurtling Spheres, 
As, in widening circles outward, 

It broke on the lapsing years : — 
"Lo, the riddles are solved of Space and 
of Time ! 
Man has compassed the gaol of the 
Omniscient Ken ! 
He is one with us in his knowledge sub- 
lime ! 
Even as Gods are the Sons of Men?" 



89 



EPILOGUE 



!"7 T IS hardly necessary to state 
««« that tke Author of this Modern 

mm , , 

J Rubaiyat has no Creed to main- 
tain — No Dogma to be carefully guard- 
ed. The Revelation of Demonstrable 
Fact and Logical Deduction therefrom, 
is, to him, the only Revelation requiring 
credence. 

You, as a Professed Christian, say, 
"That such Revelation comes from the 
Infinite Father, himself, and that all 
knowledge comes from God." Well, be 
it so ! Then this is the one infallible 
communication which the Race is receiv- 
ing from Him. Other Revelations, on 
which human creeds and beliefs are 
founded, ancient and modern, are con- 
stantly changing, to adapt themselves 
91 



Epilogue 

to the formulated record of this new 
and veracious Chronicler of the Truth. 
Other, so-called Revelations from the 
Infinite, clash in their beliefs, and are 
contradictory, the one to the other. 
Each of the isolated nations of antiquity 
appear to have been supplied with its 
own home-made assortment of Gods and 
Goddesses, which, in their conception, 
fairly represented the civilization, or want 
of civilization, of their several peoples. 
Then, take the World of to-day. Relig- 
ious dogma is one thing to the Moham- 
medan, another to the Buddhist, or the 
follower of Confucius, and another, as 
delivered to the ancient Hindu, not to 
speak of the innumerable hostile and 
warring beliefs of the variegated creeds 
of Christianity itself. 

"Man's inhumanity to Man," may, 
doubtless, be accredited, in no small 
degree, to the theological conception of 
92 



Epilogue 

a Supreme Being, who, though Omnipo- 
tent, yet allowed suffering, want and 
death, in every variety of excruciating 
agony, to be inflicted upon the Beings 
he had created. The logical inference 
necessarily followed that such things 
were inevitable, and even necessary, and 
hence we find the most atrocious cruel- 
ties of man to man, on the pages of 
recorded history, of nation upon nation 
perpetrated in the name of their Gods. 
To the rival national Deities, as inter- 
preted by their several priesthoods, the 
outsiders were but Heathen, to be sum- 
marily blotted out and exterminated. 

This was the pattern held up for so 
long to the Race. To the Higher Law 
of the old time Religionaire humanity 
was a dangerous sentiment, and one to 
be indulged in only under prescribed 
conditions. Even to our Puritan fore- 
fathers, most worthy men as they were, 
93 



Epilogue 

in many respects, the Deity, whom they 
abjectly worshiped, had foreordained the 
vast majority of the race to an end- 
less torture in the flames of Hell; a 
matter to which they piously referred, 
as "the will of God." To the Simon- 
pure brand of the Elect, the persecution 
of Non-conformists; the torturing and 
burning of witches and those, suppos- 
edly, "possessed of the Devil," were not 
merely allowable, but stern matters of 
duty, to be neglected under peril of an 
eternal personal damnation. Verily, the 
words of Christianity's founder, — "I 
come not to bring Peace, but a Sword,'' 
have been more than justified, even up 
to comparatively recent dates in the 
World's history. 

The Revelations of Science, to the 
Race, on the contrary, when once demon- 
strably established, are world-wide in 
their acceptance, and everywhere the 
94 



Epilogue 

same. Like the sunshine and the rain, 
it comes with a benign benediction of 
healing and sustenance to Humanity. 
No bloody war was ever waged to estab- 
lish her dogmas. 

It comes, too, through the only men- 
tal faculty worthy of credence — that of 
the intellect, and of logical demonstra- 
tion. Superstition and Mysticism are 
discredited witnesses in the court of 
highest human appeal. They are noto- 
riously unworthy of belief, whether as to 
the miracles of the present day, or those 
of hundreds or thousands of years aback. 
Myth and tradition are the merest cob- 
web gossamer in the clear light of pres- 
ent everyday Science. 

But then — how it jars on the self-con- 
sciousness, the amour propre, of the indi- 
vidual Human that the sum total of a 
Life Evolvement, whether that of a sin- 
gle planet, or that of the mighty realm 
95 



Epilogue 

of the Sidereal Universe in its entirety, 
from a cosmic point of view, is an abso- 
lute zero. A simple O, with neither 
affix nor prefix to give it value, in the 
final reckoning of a star system evolve- 
ment will exactly express the product 
and the remainder. Nothing, apparent- 
ly, is carried over. The slate is wiped 
clean. It is even doubtful, from the 
later standpoint, whether the erstwhile 
matter of the Star System, itself, can be 
safely reckoned on. The sands of Time 
carry, on their ever changing surface, no 
permanent record which the all-devour- 
ing waves of Oblivion may not obliterate. 
The net result of all the enormous 
interactions of Force and Matter, shown 
in a sidereal evolution, from the human 
standpoint, is, presumably, absolutely 
nothing. Matter, which, in the course 
of such evolvement, may have attained 
to very complicated conditions of mole- 
96 



Epilogue 

cular grouping, reverts back again to 
the dissociate atom, or, at the farthest, 
has more or less transposition into the 
universal medium, the Ether. No Life 
continuity is traceable, or seemingly, 
possible, from one evolvement to an- 
other. Hitherto, Science has, in fact, 
utterly failed to demonstrate the exist- 
ence of any form of individual Life en- 
tity, dissociated from the material physi- 
cal existence. 

The brilliant Oriental and Mediaeval 
imagination, which in the lack of exact 
knowledge, peopled the realms of space 
with, "an innumerable company of An- 
gels," and a host of departed spirits ; 
with Gods and Goddesses ; and our own 
Earth with Fauns and Satyrs; Nymphs 
and Dryads, of varied form and habitat; 
that mapped out a Nether World, or 
Hades, with its own peculiar set of occu- 
pants, is recognized by the Science of 
97 



Epilogue 

to-day at its actual valuation — a waking 
dream of the morning of the Race — 
beautiful, in many of its conceptions, 
but — only a dream. 

"Lest we forget," it may bear repe- 
tition that the net result of each of the 
periodic interactions of Matter and 
Force, shown in the Star System, from 
what seems at present, as the final scien- 
tific point of view, is an exact zero — 
neither plus nor minus, in either direc- 
tion. If the later estimate of Matter 
proves ultimately correct, the propor- 
tions of the two factors Matter and 
Force — the sole tenants of a limitless 
Space — may vary, through resolvement 
of the one into the other, but, the sum 
of the two must be regarded as a con- 
stant and unchangeable quantity. 

How wasteful it all seems from the 
human, economic standpoint ! The ac- 
cumulated culture and material posses- 
98 



Epilogue 

sions of a Race, and the Race, itself, 
wiped out at one fell swoop, or by a 
gradual failure of conditions which ren- 
der such Life possible. A, seemingly, 
interminable aeon of Life evolvement 
from the primal cellgrowth to the fin- 
ished Human product — and then, at the 
last, this chef-d'oeuvre of the ages, and 
all of his priceless accumulations thrown 
away — discarded as a worthless bauble ! 
Oh, the sorry nature of the process ! The 
wasteful prodigality of it all ! 

And then think of the endless diapason 
of Human Sorrow ever throbbing an ac- 
companiment ! to the remorseless march 
of a planetary evolvement ! A perfected 
physique ! and all - probing knowledge 
and mental acumen of the individual, as 
of the Race, acquired, but to be ruth- 
lessly scattered ! 

****** 
99 



L 



Epilogue 

The transition from Subjective Philos- 
ophy to a Logical Deduction from ascer- 
tained data, as the fundamental basis of 
Human Knowledge, marks the begin- 
ning of a new era in the advancement 
of the Race. Henceforth, its founda- 
tions were sure, and, step by step, has 
been builded upon it the magnificent 
structure of Modern Science. 

The practical demonstration of the 
theory of Life Evolution in the latter 
half of the 19th century, marked a great 
advance by the Race, in the direction of 
acquired knowledge. A summit had 
been attained, from which, above the 
low-lying mists of Ignorance and Super- 
stition, the eye might sweep the broad 
horizon of Truth. 

Henceforth, to the dweller on the 

heights, the Supernatural was a factor 

eliminated from the entire domain of 

Human Thought. With the advent of 

100 



Epilogue 

this basic truth the Miraculous had 
stepped down and out, or, at the most, 
remained, as in many cases, a dearly 
cherished relic of the Dream-land of the 
Past. Nevertheless, it brought, and is 
bringing, in its trail, like all new things, 
more or less of havoc and disaster. 

All new ideas are iconoclasts. They 
remorselessly smash the Idols, venerated 
mayhap, by generation after generation 
of Human Kind. They never stop to 
inquire whether it is within themselves 
to satisfactorily supply the place of the 
old. Ruthlessly, they shatter and, when 
the ground is cleared, we must, perforce, 
accept that which remains. Yet, no sane 
man — no rightly balanced intellect — asks 
for aught else than Truth. 

The inherent, hereditary ingredient of 
Superstition works in an ever narrowing 
field as the race rises in the scale of in- 
telligence. The Revelations that come 
101 



Epilogue 

through the medium of acquired fact and 
logical deduction are the only ones be- 
fore which Science humbly bows ; or 
rather, we may say, on which she proudly 
stands. Newton with his Law of Gravi- 
tation ; La Place with his Mecanique 
Celestial ; Darwin with his Origin of 
Species ; Clerk-Maxwell with his Elec- 
tro-Magnetic Theory of Light, each 
marked off the result of a long day's 
march, in the toilsome upward path of 
Humanity toward the higher table-land 
of Truth. These, and a host of other 
tireless workers, many of them not less 
widely known, supply the data from 
which come the broad generalizations 
of to-day. 

And — at the last — how simple it all 
is ! This orderly, unceasing order of 
events ! And yet, sorry are we to say 
it, — how almost infinitely little becomes 
Man, as relating to the whole ! 
102 



Epilogue 

The fervid, old-time Theologue who 
placed the whole created Universe in 
one scale of the balance and found it 
overweighted by the Soul of the Hum- 
blest Human placed in the other, has, 
perforce, to take a back seat. His vivid 
peroration, in the light of Modern 
Science, was a work of the imagination, 
pure and simple. Life, in its entirety 
of planetary evolvement, is a transient 
happening, of no Cosmic moment — sim- 
ply an incidental actuation of the uni- 
versal Force Medium, the Ether, neces- 
sarily occurring, under certain conditions 
of aggregations of material particles. 

And then, the Force Medium, itself, 
which holds the planets and the innum- 
erable members of the Star System in 
their orderly movement and grouping, is 
that same which actuates the chemical 
and molecular grouping of atoms ; the 
same which runs our street cars ; our tel- 
103 



Epilogue 

egraphs and telephones. We term it 
Electricity and measure its potentials in 
volts of tensional strength and amperes 
of quantity. By its manipulation of the 
material particles within the bodily frame 
it is the Maintainer and reproducing 
Evolver of all the varied and varying 
forms of Life Organisms. 

Now let us grasp some of the indi- 
cated cosmic potentialities of this Uni- 
versal Force Medium. From seemingly 
limitless distances of Space, in every 
direction, the light of the countless radi- 
ating members of the great Star System 
is transmitted to us by a similar vibra- 
tory action of the Ether, showing that 
it everywhere pervades the Universe, 
with an everywhere manifest similarity 
of Force actuation. Interpreted by the 
spectrum, the distant cosmic bodies, 
from which such radiations emanate, are 
shown to be of precisely the same ele- 
104 



Epilogue 

ments with which we are familiar. Un- 
der suitable conditions, we can hardly 
otherwise than infer that the surfaces of 
the innumerable planetary bodies accom- 
panying these radiant, life-giving Suns 
are, likewise, the abode of countless 
types and species of Life forms, moving 
upward in the slow steps of physical 
and mental development, even as here. 
Much ingenuity has been exercised by 
learned minds, familiar with the effects 
of environment upon type, in the varied 
species of our own planet, in conjecturing 
the diversity of phases which life forms 
might assume under the widely differing 
conditions existing on cosmic bodies. 
What form of Life will exist on the 
great planet Jupitei when it shall have 
become sufficiently cool for an orderly 
life development? A surface attraction 
of some six or seven times that of the 
Earth, such as will presumably obtain 
105 



Epilogue 

when its mass shall have attained the 
normal density associated with a cooled 
opaque exterior, would, necessarily, bar 
the ordinary forms of Life familiar here. 
In fact, a race of pigmies excessively 
dwarfed as to size, would seem as abso- 
lutely called for, although in the water a 
larger physical development might pre- 
vail. The many times greater atmos- 
pheric pressure would also require a 
special adaptation of the organisms. 

Altogether, the widely differing factors 
of the environment would hardly seem 
encouraging for a Life development such 
as would seem a desirable one, from a 
mundane point of view. The burden of 
gravitation would be an almost crush- 
ing one, on the bodily frame, unless, in- 
deed, through the agency of Natural 
Selection with its correlated Survival of 
the Fittest, a bodily form of excessive 
strength and lightness might result. 
106 



Epilogue 

On the other hand, a cosmic mass like 
our own Moon or one of the numerous 
family of the asteroids, provided they were 
able to maintain upon their surface the, 
seemingly, necessary concomitants of air 
and water for the period of time re- 
quired to bring out any considerable life 
evolvement, would appear to offer excep- 
tionally favorable life conditions. The 
same degree of physical strength, in the 
body, accompanied by a reduction of 
gravitative weight to one quarter or an 
eighth part of the load we now carry 
would seem to mean a life of tireless 
energy — a surplus of stored strength, 
with a minimum of toil and labor. In 
such an easy-going existence, with all 
the untaxed faculties free to cope with 
the requirements of the environment, a 
full solution of the varied problems of 
Life and Matter would seem easy of 
attainment. 

107 



Epilogue 

How, then, about Life continuity, as 
related to the immaterial persistence of 
a planetary evolvement,initshighertype? 
One simple fact would seem to stand, 
as an insurmountable barrier to a philo- 
sophic belief in this direction. As stated 
previously, the Human Race — legend and 
superstition to the contrary, notwith- 
standing — has never, in a scientifically 
demonstrable manner, come into contact 
with an entity other than those of the 
physical life forms of our planet. An 
immaterial entity is a thing, so far, un- 
known to Science. 

With our present understanding of the 
evolutionary process and the sameness 
of Matter and Force action throughout 
the Universe we can fairty postulate 
about each of the radiating centers of 
the Star System an accompanying plane- 
tary retinue in a more or less opaque 
condition of exterior surface. For the 
108 



Epilogue 

same reason we may likewise assume, 
upon these, life forms in varied and dif- 
fering stages of evolvement. 

Could we bridge, in our conceptions, 
che narrow bit of space that intervenes 
between ourselves and our neighboring 
planet Mars, with which we have a con- 
stant vibratory, ether intercommunica- 
tion of only five or six minutes in its 
transmission, possibly we might meet 
even there, with cosmic Life conditions 
which in their foreshadowing of a tragic 
denouement to the perfected flower of a 
planetary evolvement should stir the 
broadest sympathies of the Earth- 
dweller. A great Race, mayhap, with 
hundreds of thousands of years of re- 
corded history; one, perchance, that 
from the far off morning of Historic 
Time has mastered the secret of an indi- 
vidual physical Life Continuity and that 
has held in its own hand for centuries 
109 



Epilogue 

almost innumerable a practical control 
of the numerical output and perpetuity 
of the physical organism, itself, and yet 
finds itself face to face with the near 
failure of air and water upon the plane- 
tary surface. We can rest assured those 
superior intellects would, under such 
conditions put up a splendid fight for 
existence, in ways hardly comprehensi- 
ble to our duller conceptions. The natu- 
ral process, upon a planetary surface, of 
a dissociation of its waters into oxides 
and hydrocarbons, by contact with the 
heated interior mass, would perhaps, be 
reversed by an artificial dissociation of 
the original products, or the unlimited 
potencies of the Universal Force Me- 
dium drawn upon, in some, at present, 
to us, unexplainable manner, for pur- 
poses of sustenance and warmth. 

The now arid and airless surface of 
the Moon has, doubtless, had some form 
110 



Epilogue 

of a Life History extending through 
that very prolonged period of the Earth's 
existence, in which our present oceans 
formed a vast, vaporous envelope of the 
planet, itself, with a more or less con- 
tinuous precipitation and explosion into 
steam upon the heated surface. 

Whether the Moon-voyaging, rummag- 
ing Antiquarian of a coming time would 
be able to find relics of a former intelli- 
gent raceis a problem necessarily depend- 
ing on the nature of the lighter material 
originally thrown off from the nebulous 
Earth mass, as well as to the duration of 
the period in which Life conditions, as 
we know them, were possible. 

Then take Life in its broader cosmic 
significance, as related to the evolutions 
of Matter. Go back a thousand million 
of our years, or, mayhap, ten thousand 
million, till we reach that long ago epoch 
of a prior evolution of the material Star 
111 



Epilogue 

System. Make it a million or a million 
of million of such inconceivable periods 
of Time. Undoubtedly, Life, all along 
that mighty stretch of immeasurable 
years, was everywhere a concomitant of 
material evolvement. 

Where are the Denizens of that hoary 
antiquity of the Past ? Some, doubtless, 
there were, even as now, whose intel- 
lects were enshrouded, ostrich-like, in 
the all-enveloping sand of a subjective 
hypothesis and in the childish imagery 
of Faith saw, ever and anon, the won- 
derful mirage of a Golden City and 
pearly gates, beyond, what, to their 
vision was but a river to be crossed. 
Time's Lost Children were these. But 
where are the unshackled of intellect, 
the clear-sighted, who marched down- 
ward and outward into an ocean they 
knew to be shoreless ? Where are the 
courageous, the strong-hearted, who with 
112 



Epilogue 

a calm serenity contemplated the blank 
wall of Fate up against which their 
course was inevitably leading, but re- 
pined them not? 

Alike of the one and the other the 
spaces are ominously silent. Alike, as 
to him that died yesterday, and to those 
of the hoary antiquity of a past Star 
System evolvement, comes no answer- 
ing note. 

Ye brave, courageous Souls, who on 
Evolvement's topmost height have seen 
all Truth with clear-eyed vision, and 
with calm self-effacement have gazed 
undauntedly, and with unblanched face 
upon the black wall of Night and Silence 
that loomed across your pathway, even 
now, as we grasp the full meaning of a 
planetary Life Evolvement, we feel a 
straining bond of sympathy reaching 
backward into the hoary antiquity of the 
Time -that -knows -no -Beginning. The 
113 



Epilogue 

Song of Life we sing to-day ; the dirge 
of Fate we chant ; how often has it 
echoed down the limitless aisles of the 
past eternities in all the variations of 
beatific hope; of calm enjoyment, and 
a yet calmer despair ! 

The mutations of birth, life, and final 
extinction of the individual entity, repro- 
duced in the race, in its entirety; the 
passionate cry of the Lost Children of 
Time for an unending Eternity of joy 
and love; the wail of foreboding sad- 
ness, and the proud serenity of Knowl- 
edge, that calmly bows to the all-potent 
Wand of Fate, elicit no response. The 
spaces, to-day, as yesterday, are silent. 
No scroll holds the records of the mighty 
races, which Time and Force, in their 
ceaseless rounds, have evolved, in the 
hoary past of millions of millions of 
Star System evoivements. They have 
passed, even as the mighty life races 
114 



Epilogue 

peopling the unending realms of Space 
to-day are passing. 

But the new is coming. The process 
is to be repeated ; repeated without end. 
The yet unborn, oncoming generations 
of Star System Evolvements, even as 
those that have gone, are endless in their 
continuity of extension. 

Oh, Great Souls of the Past, to whose 
clear-eyed vision all the secret things of 
Matter and of Life were but as an open 
book, we apologize to You ! Our Race 
is but of Yesterday. The slime of the 
Protoplasmic Ooze is yet upon our gar- 
ments. Only a little way aback, and we 
were worshiping Dumb Idols of wood 
and stone — the work of our own hands. 
A little time agone, and we were offer- 
ing up our fellows on sacrificial altars, 
in a servile, cringing fear of the Un- 
known. Hardly, even now, have we 
ceased striving to propitiate an imag- 
115 



Epilogue 

inary, vindictive Diety by a cruel perse- 
cution of our Brothers. We are yet 
saturated with Superstition, and are as 
Slaves, not yet emancipated from its 
abject, grovelling bondage. 

CALCHAS. 



116 



APR 3 1903 



